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Tokyo CNN —Japan will begin releasing treated radioactive water from Fukushima into the ocean as early as Thursday, officials announced on Tuesday, following months of heightened public anxiety and pushback from many neighboring countries. Since then, new water has been pumped in to cool fuel debris in the reactors, while ground and rainwater have leaked in, creating more radioactive wastewater. The real issue is a hydrogen isotope called radioactive tritium, which cannot be taken away. Many other countries, including the United States, regularly release treated wastewater containing small amounts of tritium from their nuclear plants. One expert, who helped Pacific Island nations review and assess the wastewater release plan, told CNN it was “ill-advised” and premature.

Persons: Fumio Kishida, hasn’t, Kishida, “, ” Organizations: Tokyo CNN —, United Nations ’ International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, Tokyo Electric Power Company, Authorities, TEPCO, CNN Locations: Tokyo CNN — Japan, Fukushima, China, South Korea, Japan, United States

Tokyo CNN —Japan expressed “grave concern” after Chinese and Russian warships sailed close to its southern islands on Thursday, just a day before its leader is expected to discuss rising tensions in the Indo-Pacific at a summit with counterparts from South Korea and the United States. It is the first time Russian and Chinese ships have sailed together through this particular body of water. It said the ships are believed to have taken part in a joint patrol in the Pacific. Chinese and Russian sailors conducted anti-submarine exercises, repelled a simulated enemy air raid, conducted rescue training at sea, and practiced helicopter takeoffs and landings on the decks of warships, the Russian ministry said. There, they are expected to agree to deepen defense, technology and economic cooperation, according to senior Biden administration officials.

Persons: David, Fumio Kishida, Yoon Suk, hasn’t, China’s, ”, Wang Yi Organizations: Tokyo CNN —, Russia’s Ministry of Defense, Japan, Western, Biden, South Locations: Tokyo CNN — Japan, Russian, South Korea, United States, Miyako, Japan’s, Okinotori, Soya, Hokkaido, Sakhalin, Okhotsk, Japan, East, China, Russia, Tokyo, Ukraine, Moscow, Kyiv . China, North Korea, Seoul, Korea, Asia, European, Pyongyang, Korean

☆ Biden’s Camp David Summit Is a Pivotal Moment for Asian Security - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-17 | by ( Daniel Russel | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

By choosing to hold the summit at Camp David, Mr. Biden has signaled that he understands the gravity of the moment. The good news for Mr. Biden is that the relationship between Tokyo and Seoul is improving. As President Barack Obama’s special assistant and later assistant secretary of state for East Asia, I saw firsthand the disruptive effects of friction between Japan and South Korea. China and North Korea have proven themselves adept at exploiting such differences. North Korea has in the past dangled the possible return of Japanese citizens said to have been abducted by Pyongyang decades ago, partly in an effort to curry favor with Tokyo and get it to ease some sanctions imposed on North Korea.

Persons: Camp David, Mr, Biden, David, Yoon, Kishida, Barack Obama’s Organizations: David Accords, South Koreans, Korean, U.S Locations: Camp, Washington, Israel, Egypt, Tokyo, Seoul, Japan, China, East Asia, South Korea, North Korea, American, Korea, Pyongyang, Beijing, Okinawa

☆ San’in: Japan’s least-populated region is home to some of its finest treasures
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-10 | by ( Claire Hannum | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Matsue, Japan CNN —San’in isn’t the Japan most travelers picture on their first visit to the country. Japan’s famous high-speed rail system does not pass through San’in, which leaves it off many travelers’ radars altogether. The San’in region consists of Japan’s two least populous prefectures, Shimane and Tottori, which sit between the Sea of Japan and the northern side of the country’s Chukogu mountains. “The Kojiki,” an important eighth-century Shinto text, depicts the San’in region as an annual gathering place for the gods. The region is also the backdrop to Japan’s only desert, a 10-mile cluster of rolling sand beside the Sea of Japan known as the Tottori Dunes.

Persons: Japan CNN — San’in, Mount Daisen, Daisen, Masako Ishida, San’in, Mitoku, it’s, “ It’s, ”, Baye Cooper, ” Cooper, “ Organizations: Japan CNN, UNESCO, Getty, Adachi Museum of Art, Journal, Alamy, Hong Kong Airlines, Air Seoul, San’in Tourism Organization Locations: Matsue, Japan, Honshu, Japan’s, San’in, Shimane, Tottori, Nara, Hyogo, Inasa, amana, Inasa Beach, Uradome, Mount, Chugoku, Kaike Onsen, Tokyo, Kyoto, Yamaguchi prefecture, One, Osaka, Shimane prefecture, Okayama, Hiroshima, Izumo, Hong Kong, Hong, Seoul, Air

☆ China tips into deflation as efforts to stoke recovery falter
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-09 | by ( Liangping Gao | Ryan Woo | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Customers select tomatoes at a stall inside a morning market in Beijing, China August 9, 2023. The consumer price index (CPI) dropped 0.3% year-on-year in July, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Wednesday, compared with the median estimate for a 0.4% decrease in a Reuters poll. The producer price index (PPI) declined for a 10th consecutive month, down 4.4% and faster than the forecast 4.1% fall. Asian shares were on the defensive on Wednesday as the Chinese price data confirmed its economic recovery was losing steam. Beijing has set a consumer inflation target of around 3% this year, which would be up from 2% recorded in 2022, and for now, authorities are downplaying concerns about deflation.

Persons: Wang, Japan’s “, ”, Gary Ng, Liu Guoqiang, Xia Chun, Tommy Wu, Wu Organizations: REUTERS, National Bureau of Statistics, “, Asia Pacific, Natixis, Commerzbank Locations: BEIJING, Beijing, China, Asia, Brazil, Japan, Hong Kong

☆ China swings into deflation as recovery falters
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-09 | by ( Reuters Staff | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

BEIJING (Reuters) -China’s consumer prices fell into deflation in July, while factory gate prices extended their declines, as the world’s second-largest economy struggled to revive demand and pressure mounted for authorities to release more direct stimulus. FILE PHOTO: Staff sort fruits at a Walmart in Beijing, China, September 23, 2019. China’s economic recovery slowed after a brisk start in the first quarter, as demand at home and abroad weakened. “Both CPI and PPI in year-on-year terms fell into negative territory and confirmed economic deflation,” said Xing Zhaopeng, senior China strategist at ANZ. Otherwise, economic data showing some growth improvement is required, which is not coming through yet.”JAPAN-STYLE DEFLATION?

Persons: Tingshu Wang, “, ”, Xing Zhaopeng, Xing, Frances Cheung, Japan’s “, Liu Guoqiang Organizations: Walmart, REUTERS, National Bureau of Statistics, Authorities, CPI, PPI, ANZ, “, OCBC Bank, NBS, Investors Locations: BEIJING, Beijing, China, Shanghai, Singapore, JAPAN, Brazil

☆ How the Bank of Japan’s Shift Could Play Out in U.S. Markets
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-28 | by ( Sam Goldfarb | Frances Yoon | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

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Persons: Dow Jones

☆ Bank of Japan has its cake and eats it
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Governor Kazuo Ueda on Friday shocked global markets by pledging more flexibility in the Bank of Japan’s (8301.T) yield curve control scheme, its mechanism for controlling long-term interest rates. The central bank said its previous rigid target of keeping yields on 10-year sovereign bonds in a range of 0.5% to minus 0.5% was now just a “reference”. And it promised to buy 10-year bonds at 1%, which Ueda defined as a “just-in-case” cap. Traders immediately breached the officially unchanged range; the yield on 10-year government bonds hit a 9-year high of 0.575%. Instead, the bank may have found a way to make it more sustainable.

Persons: Kazuo Ueda, Ueda, Francesco Guerrera, Oliver Taslic Organizations: Reuters, Bank of Japan’s, Traders, Global, Twitter, Consumers, Thomson Locations: MUMBAI, Japan, Una

A Japanese city learned the hard way this week how very wrong they were, after prompting national outrage over flyers that tried to do just that. Onomichi city, in Japan’s Hiroshima prefecture, conducted a public survey in 2017 that was used to create flyers for pregnant women later distributed to local residents, according to the city government’s website. “There are differences in the way men and women feel and think,” one flyer reads. “One of the reasons for this is the structural difference in the brains of men and women. Meanwhile, structural issues still prevent many working men and women from balancing careers with family life, with mothers often sacrificing their jobs to care for their children.

Persons: –, “, Yuko Yamada, Yukihiro Hiratani, don’t, … You’d, ”, Fumio Kishida Organizations: Tokyo CNN, Twitter, Getty, Authorities Locations: Onomichi, Japan’s Hiroshima, ”, Japan, ” Japan, United States, Sweden

☆ Japan will gain from ultra-cautious ratesetters
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-27 | by ( Una Galani | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

If monetary authorities declare victory too soon and tighten policy, they risk derailing a growth revival and triggering a debt crisis. But the longer the Land of the Rising Sun waits for the perfect moment to raise interest rates, the more market ructions it will face. That belief is a key reason to maintain short term interest rates at minus 0.1% and stick with a seven-year-old policy of yield curve control. Japan’s interest payments would balloon; gross government debt accelerated during the pandemic and stood at 261% of GDP at the end of last year, more than twice the United States’ ratio. Follow @ugalani on TwitterCONTEXT NEWSThe Bank of Japan’s two-day policy meeting concludes on July 28.

Persons: What’s, Kazuo Ueda, That’s, Francesco Guerrera, Thomas Shum Organizations: Reuters, Bank of Japan’s, United, P, of Japan’s, Thomson Locations: MUMBAI, Japan, United States

☆ Leon Marchand, 21-year-old French swimming star, breaks Michael Phelps’ last remaining world record
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-23 | by ( Issy Ronald | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

CNN —Although Michael Phelps retired seven years ago, his legacy has continued to tower over swimming. But on Saturday, Phelps’ last remaining world record was smashed by 21-year-old Leon Marchand at the World Aquatics Championships in Fukoka, Japan, as the Frenchman completed the 400 meters individual medley in 4:02.50, shaving an enormous 1.34 seconds off Phelps’ previous mark. Phelps himself had held the world record for almost 21 years, setting a series of increasingly faster times during his stint as the world’s most dominant swimmer. “I’m two seconds faster than my previous record, I beat the world record, it’s amazing… I don’t know what to say, I’m so happy.”France's Leon Marchand competes in the final of the men's 400m medley. Meanwhile Australia’s Ariarne Titmus set a world record in the women’s 400 meter freestyle with a time of 3:55.38, so blistering that she held off Katie Ledecky in second place.

Persons: Michael Phelps, Phelps ’, Leon Marchand, Frenchman, ” Marchand, “, Phelps, ” France's Leon Marchand, Manan Vatsyayana, Carson Foster, Australia’s Ariarne, Katie Ledecky Organizations: CNN, Olympics, Getty Locations: Fukoka, Japan, Beijing, AFP, Japan’s

London/Hong Kong CNN —The European Union has lifted all import restrictions on food, including fish, produced near the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan just as Tokyo prepares to release treated radioactive wastewater into the ocean. The bloc’s move follows positive results from tests carried out on the products by the Japanese authorities and EU member states, the European Commission said in a statement Thursday. After the Fukushima plant melted down in 2011 following an earthquake and tsunami, the EU restricted food imports from 10 prefectures in Japan and started requiring pre-export tests on food products for radioactivity. It has since regularly reviewed the measures and progressively eased them “as risks declined,” the European Commission said. On Wednesday, Hong Kong, one of the world’s top buyers of Japan’s fish, said it would ban seafood imports from 10 prefectures in the country if Tokyo pressed ahead with the wastewater release.

Persons: “, Ursula von der Leyen, — Mohammed Tawfeeq Organizations: Hong Kong CNN, European, European Commission, International Atomic Energy Agency, ” Locations: Hong Kong, Japan, Tokyo, United States, South Korea, China, Fukushima, Atlanta

☆ Namikawa Yasuyuki vase bought at thrift shop could sell for $11,800
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-13 | by ( Amarachi Orie | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —A hand-sized vase bought from a UK thrift store for just £2.50 ($3.30) is expected to sell for up to £9,000 ($11,800) at auction. Specialists identified the vase as being the work of late Japanese ceramist and cloisonné artist Namikawa Yasuyuki, who lived between 1845 and 1927, the release added. The Canterbury Auction GalleriesCloisonné is an intricate enameling technique which involves soldering delicate metal strips or wire, bent to an outline of a design, to a metal surface. The couple selling it plans to give a “generous donation” to the charity shop where they found the item, according to the auction house. A larger vase by the same artist sold at Canterbury Auction Galleries for £29,000 ($38,000) in April 2019, the release added.

Persons: “, Ahmet, ”, Karen, “ He’s, Namikawa Yasuyuki, Yasuyuki’s, Cliona Kilroy, Namikawa Sōsuke, ” Kilroy Organizations: CNN, Canterbury Locations: English, Surrey, London, Canterbury, Yasuyuki’s Kyoto, enamelling, Japan

☆ Fukushima wastewater: Hong Kong poised to ban Japanese seafood over treated water
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-13 | by ( Chris Lau | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Hong Kong CNN —Hong Kong, one of the world’s biggest buyers of Japanese fish, says it will ban seafood imports from 10 prefectures in the country if Tokyo presses ahead with its plan to release treated radioactive water from Fukushima into the sea. Japanese food is hugely popular in Hong Kong, which has more than 2,000 Japanese restaurants. The move comes less than a week after Beijing announced a similar ban on Japanese seafood exports to mainland China, citing concerns over health and safety. Customers wait to get into Japanese sushi chain Sushiro in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong, on July 13, 2023. The 10 prefectures facing a seafood ban are Tokyo, Fukushima, Chiba, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Gumma, Miyagi, Niigata, Nagano and Saitama, he said.

Persons: Tse Chin, Let’s, ” Tse, Chris Lau, Tse, ”, “, Rafael Grossi, Fumio Kishida, Grossi, Sandy Yu, Timothy Lo Organizations: Hong Kong CNN, Beijing, International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, CNN, Hong, South, UN, HK Locations: Hong Kong, Tokyo, Fukushima, Japan, China, South Korea, United States, Causeway Bay, Chiba, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Gumma, Miyagi, Niigata, Nagano, Saitama, Hong, Causeway

Public prosecutors in Japan have not released information regarding the case and did not respond to CNN’s request for comment. Rina Gonoi, a former member of Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force, checks old photos on her phone. “That makes it hard for people to speak out.”Rina Gonoi says she endured physical and verbal sexual abuse while she served in Japan's Self-Defense Forces. In 1992, Japan’s National Defense Academy finally began accepting women, which made it possible for them to become senior officers. “We are aware that the perpetrators of sexual harassment cases are scheduled to be punished severely.

Persons: Tokyo CNN — Rina Gonoi, Gonoi, “, ”, Rina Gonoi Gonoi’s, Staff Yoshihide Yoshida, dishonorably, Rina Gonoi, Philip Fong, Japan’s, Fumika Sato, ” Sato, Sato, ” Rina Gonoi, Rina, Shinzo Abe, Richard A, Brooks, –, ” Gonoi, Gonoi’s, I’d, Yasukazu Hamada, Fumio Kishida, hasn’t, you’ve, “ I’m Organizations: Tokyo CNN, Defense Force, Japan’s Ministry of Defense, Staff, Defense Forces, NHK, Public, Getty, Hitotsubashi University, Defense Ministry, CNN, National Press Club, Japan’s National Defense Academy, Defense, Japan’s, Self - Defense Force, Ministry of Defense, ”, “, SDF Locations: Japan’s, Japan, AFP, Japan's, North Korea, China, Tokyo, Higashi, Miyagi, Fukushima

☆ A Séance With Ryuichi Sakamoto at the Shed
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-25 | by ( Max Lakin | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“Kagami,” the new “mixed reality” concert of Ryuichi Sakamoto’s music by the production company Tin Drum is meant to be a profound experience, a groundbreaking achievement in virtual reality that expands the visual limits of recorded performance. In some ways that’s unavoidable; Sakamoto, one of Japan’s most internationally recognized artists, died in March, so any presentation of his music so soon is hard pressed to avoid a funereal pallor. Scenes from the 2017 documentary “Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda” play on mute on the far wall — Sakamoto collecting rainwater in a bucket; sampling the sound of an ice floe in the Arctic Circle — which, out of context, seem more oblique than they really are. The actual performance takes place beyond a curtain in an empty black box theater, which, materially speaking, stays that way. You sit in the round, staring at a glowing, virtual red cube in the center of the room, which suggests a séance administered by an AV club.

Persons: “ Kagami, Ryuichi, Sakamoto, Griffin, Ryuichi Sakamoto

☆ Asian markets slide as investors fear more rate hikes by major central banks
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-23 | by ( Laura He | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

Hong Kong CNN —Asian stock markets tumbled Friday as investors fretted that more interest rate hikes by major central banks would drag on global economic growth. Mainland Chinese stock markets were closed for a public holiday. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday that more interest rate increases might be needed this year to bring down US inflation to the central bank’s 2% target. “The re-acceleration of global monetary policy tightening dampened markets’ sentiment across regions,” said Ken Cheung, chief foreign exchange strategist for Asia at Mizuho Bank. “The increasing inflation momentum will pave the way for the Bank of Japan’s inflation upgrade and the possible monetary policy tweak in the medium term.”

Persons: Australia’s, Kospi, Jerome Powell, ”, “, Ken Cheung Organizations: Hong Kong CNN, Nikkei, US, Bank of England, Bank of Japan, Mizuho Bank, Bank of Locations: Hong Kong, South, Japan, Asia

☆ Tottori Sand Dunes: Japan’s disappearing desert
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-15 | by ( Claire Hannum | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

But these are the Tottori Sand Dunes, wedged along the coast of Japan’s sparsely populated San’in region, the country’s very own slice of desert. A dwindling treasureThe Tottori dunes are located on the western coast of Honshu, Japan’s largest and most populous island. The Tottori Sand Dunes are just 12% of the size that they were 100 years ago. “The environmental conditions of the Tottori Sand Dunes are different from those of arid lands because of its humid climate,” Nagamatsu says. “But Tottori University is promoting arid land research using the ‘sand’ conditions of the Tottori Sand Dunes and experimental facilities.”Down the road from the research center, tourists are experiencing an otherworldly adventure in the sand.

Persons: you’d, They’ve, Takeo Arishima, ”, Dai Nagamatsu, Akira Miyawaki, — Buddhika, Nagamatsu, shiba, sandboarders, Anya Jarilla, “, it’s, amulapo, Kengo Kuma Organizations: Japan CNN, Sand Museum, Tottori University’s Faculty of Agriculture, Local, Brazilian Amazon ., Research Center, ” Staff, Associates Locations: Tottori Prefecture, Japan, Tottori, Honshu, Japan’s, Osaka, Hiroshima, Chūgoku, Sendai, Tottori University’s, Tottori City, Brazilian, Paragliders, Tottori Sand, Tokyo, ”

☆ Japan’s economic scars might blind it to inflation
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Pete Sweeney | Thomson Reuters | Asia Economics Editor Pete Sweeney Joined Reuters Breakingviews In Hong Kong In September Previously He Served As Reuters' Chief Correspondent For China Economy | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

Investors worry about market ructions if Ueda hikes rates now but there is another risk: that he waits too long. Reuters GraphicsUeda’s inaction – and the domestic markets’ positive response – have bought him time to focus on evaluating macroeconomic fundamentals, particularly inflation. The country only emerged from a decades-long deflationary rut relatively recently, so local economists, executives and consumers are unused to worrying about consumer prices rising too fast. The government’s latest draft of its long-term economic plan, seen by Reuters on June 2, remains focused on eradicating Japan's “long-held deflationary mindset”. "We expect inflation to quite clearly slow below 2%" toward the middle of the current fiscal year, Ueda told parliament.

Persons: Kazuo Ueda, Haruhiko Kuroda, Ueda, ’, –, Richard Koo, Shinzo Abe, Francesco Guerrera, Katrina Hamlin Organizations: Reuters, Bank of Japan, Nikkei, Nasdaq, Bank for International, Toyota, Toshiba, Black Monday, Japan Inc, International Monetary Fund, of, Thomson Locations: TOKYO, Japan, United States, U.S, Great, China, Europe, Germany, Italy, of Japan’s

☆ Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan: What it’s like to stay at the world’s oldest hotel
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-09 | by ( Mayumi Maruyama | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Minobu, Japan CNN —Tucked deep in the mountains of Japan’s Yamanashi prefecture, the Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan has tatami floors, kimono-sporting staff and signs in handwritten calligraphy. But its popularity received a huge boost in 2011 when the Guinness Book of World Records designated Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan as the oldest hotel in the world. The front entrance of Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan. Courtesy Nishiyama Onsen KeiunkanLearning to let goStandard rooms at Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan have three sections: two sitting areas and one living space. To solve this, he took over the original shares of the business and created the Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan Limited company.

Persons: Japan CNN —, that’s, Fujiwara, Naruhito, ”, Michiyo Hattori, Mayumi Maruyama, they’re, Kenjiro Kawano, CNN Kawano, Kawano, “, Kawano couldn’t, ” Kawano Organizations: Japan CNN, World Records, Mount, ”, Staff, CNN, Keiunkan Limited Locations: Minobu, Japan, Yamanashi, Tokyo, Shizuoka, Mount Fuji, It’s

☆ Japanese city of Hiroshima rose from the ashes and now it welcomes millions
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-21 | by ( Emiko Jozuka | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Within the bomb’s hypocenter, only the half-exploded Genbaku Dome – formerly the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall – was left standing as the bombing razed Hiroshima city to the ground. A man relaxes alongside the river on a bench overlooking the Genbaku Dome. ET), Hiroshima city lost roughly 40% of its population, which numbered around 300,000 people at the time. Full-scale reconstruction only began in August 1949 after the Hiroshima Peace Memorial City Construction Law was promulgated, allowing the national government to extend special financial support to Hiroshima. “It’s impressive how Japanese people rebuilt the city from scratch again – building a beautiful city full of green spaces.

☆ As Rahm Emanuel Pushes Japan on Gay Rights, Conservatives Bristle
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-21 | by ( Motoko Rich | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Since taking up his post as U.S. ambassador to Japan last year, Rahm Emanuel has lavished his host country with enthusiastic tweets about riding the world-class bullet trains and subways, hiking Mount Fuji or sampling local delicacies and festivals. But a recent string of messages about gay and transgender rights, culminating in a video Mr. Emanuel released on Twitter earlier this month, has drawn considerable ire among conservatives in Japan. Critics say the ambassador has overstepped the bounds of diplomacy and crossed into unwanted interference in domestic policy. As Japanese lawmakers debated a contentious bill declaring that there “should be no unfair discrimination” against the gay and transgender community, Mr. Emanuel marshaled a group of 15 foreign ambassadors in Tokyo to record a four-minute video nudging Japan to embrace L.G.B.T.Q. Japan is the only Group of 7 country that has not legalized same-sex unions.

☆ G7 leaders gather on China's doorstep to seek unified response to Beijing
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Nectar Gan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

‘Economic coercion’Another important theme of the summit will be economic security, including how to counter China’s economic pressure tactics. As the G7 summit gets underway, Chinese officials will be closely watching from Beijing and will not hide their displeasure, experts say. In the lead-up to the summit, Beijing has already berated a statement by G7 foreign ministers. Similarly, Beijing also lashed out at accusations of its “economic coercion,” claiming it is the “victim of US economic coercion” rather than a perpetrator. And while China is not invited to Hiroshima, it is hosting its own summit with Central Asia countries, experts noted.

Hong Kong CNN —The head of Japan’s biggest music agency has apologized over allegations of years-long sexual abuse committed by its founder, the late entertainment mogul Johnny Kitagawa. “We sincerely apologize for the great deal of trouble caused by our founder Johnny Kitagawa’s alleged sexual abuse of individuals,” said Julie Fujishima, the company’s president and CEO. “On the other hand, Johnny Kitagawa, who is the party concerned, cannot speak on the accusations.”Fujishima also warned of the risk of “slander, due to speculation,” suggesting skepticism over some claims. They spoke about alleged sexual assault committed by Johnny Kitagawa, who died in 2019. A Tokyo High Court partially overturned the earlier decision in 2003, ruling the published sexual abuse claims were not libelous.

☆ As Japan’s Leader Goes to Seoul, South Koreans Are All Ears
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( Choe Sang-Hun | Motoko Rich | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In March, Mr. Yoon removed a roadblock in relations with Japan when he announced that South Korea would no longer demand Japanese compensation for victims of forced labor during World War II, but would create its own fund for them. Mr. Yoon said that Japan should no longer be expected to “kneel because of our history 100 years ago.”The olive branch to Tokyo is part of Mr. Yoon’s broader efforts to reshape South Korean diplomacy, aligning his country closer to countries with “shared values,” especially the United States, on such things as supply chains and a “free and open” Indo-Pacific. Mr. Yoon’s diplomatic concessions were a political boon for Mr. Kishida at home but costly for Mr. Yoon in his own country, where South Koreans accused him of “traitorous, humiliating diplomacy.” His domestic critics say he gave too much and got too little in return from Japan, which they say has never properly apologized or atoned — a common complaint among many other Asian victims, especially in China and North Korea, of Japan’s World War II aggressions. To many South Koreans, what matters most in relations with Tokyo is how Japanese leaders view its colonial era, a time when Koreans were forced to adopt Japanese names; when schools removed Korean language and history from the curriculum; and when tens of thousands of Korean women were forced into sexual slavery for Japan’s Imperial Army. They are likely to assess Mr. Kishida’s visit on whether — and how directly — he will apologize for that past.

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